European Union governments reached a preliminary agreement on Tuesday to freeze the assets of 18 Ukrainians, at Kiev's request, after Ukraine's new rulers said billions in public funds have gone missing.

The decision still needs to be made final in the coming days and follows similar moves last week by Austria, an EU member, as well as Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

Austrian authorities have included Ukraine's ousted president, Viktor Yanukovich, in their list of targets but it was not clear whether his assets would now be frozen throughout the 28-nation bloc.